by Jim Calloway

OBA Management Assistance Program

(Originally published Oklahoma Bar Journal March 7, 1998 – Vol. 69; No. 10. Reprinted with permission.)

Note: I’m going to spend the next few days republishing some posts and articles that are difficult to locate and still have some value. I note that this article, originally published

Years ago, I put together a presentation called “The Client-Centered Law Practice.” It focused on the irony that while law firms focused on serving clients and appropriately addressing their legal needs, clients sometimes had an impression that differed from that. To those (hopefully few) clients, it seemed that the law firm was busily engaged doing

Office Sharing Arrangements with Other Lawyers was the subject of American Bar Association Formal Opinion 507, released July 12, 2023.

The opinion “addresses some minimum ethical requirements and suggested practices arising in the office sharing context, particularly in the areas of confidentiality, conflicts of interest, supervision, and communications concerning a lawyer’s services.” It notes that

I’m certain the majority of lawyers would say they don’t print anything on the back of their business cards. That is fine.

A lawyer from southeastern Oklahoma showed me what she prints on the back of her business cards. This is another instance of where people law practice has different approaches than corporate law. People

I recently attended a presentation by Judge Scott Schlegel, a Louisiana district judge who has received many accolades for his forward-thinking views about the use of technology to improve court

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proceedings, including text message reminders about appearances and calendars available online for scheduling. He

I think it is very important for lawyers who practice People Law, those primarily representing individuals, to appreciate that the differences between that and more business-oriented types of practices are increasing.

Today these areas are becoming completely different service delivery models. There was a time when a law firm handled its matters in the same

It’s the time of year for New Year’s resolutions. Well, since this comes out in mid-January, it is the time when many New Year’s resolutions have already been made and broken. But with the new year ahead, it is an appropriate time to reflect on your law firm and the goals you have for the